Figurine depicting a British soldier fighting a Chinese Boxer, 1900 (c)

Biscuit-fired porcelain, hand-painted, 1900 (c).

Issued in commemoration of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, this figurine depicts an infantryman about to punch a Chinese man whom he is holding by his pigtail, having wrapped it around his throat. This item is typical of the late-Victorian fashion for consumer goods bearing patriotic and imperialist motifs.

During the Boxer Rebellion the foreign legations in Peking (Beijing) were besieged by nationalist rebels of the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists (or 'Boxers' as the Europeans came to call them), aided and abetted by Chinese Imperialist forces. A multinational force relieved the besieged European and Japanese forces, exacerbating the destruction caused by the rebels, by embarking on the systematic looting of the Imperial city.